Occupations
The Union Pacific Railroad first introduced large numbers of African American strikebreakers to Omaha during a strike in 1877. Black barbers organized the first labor union in Omaha, and went on strike in Omaha in 1887 after they deemed it "unprofessional to work beside white competitors." Arriving in 1890, Dr. Stephenson was the first African-American physician in Omaha and the start of a substantial professional class. Matthew Ricketts was the first African-American medical student to graduate from the University of Nebraska Medical College and settled in North Omaha to set up his practice. In 1892, Dr. Ricketts was the first African-American elected to a seat in the Nebraska State Legislature. According to the Works Progress Administration, the first African-American fair held in the United States took place in Omaha, July 3–4, 1894. Their study reports: "Only Negro-owned horses were entered in the races, and all exhibits were restricted to articles made or owned by Negroes."
African Americans also built a "Colored Old Folks Home" in North Omaha in the 1910s and sustained it for a long period of time. Clarence W. Wigington was a renowned African-American architect from Omaha. He designed St. John's A.M.E. and the Broomfield Rowhouse, among many others in the city, but built most of his career after 1914 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Miss Lucy Gambol, later known as Mrs. John Albert Williams, was the first African-American teacher in the Omaha Public Schools, teaching there for six years from 1899 through 1905. The first film company controlled by Black filmmakers was founded in Omaha in the summer of 1915. George and Noble Johnson founded the Lincoln Motion Picture Company to produce films for African-American audiences. Noble was a small-time actor; George worked for the post office. Noble Johnson was president of the company; Clarence A. Brooks, secretary; Dr. James T. Smith, treasurer; and Dudley A. Brooks was assistant secretary. Lincoln Films quickly built a reputation for making films that showcased African-American talent in the full sphere of cinema. In less than a year the company relocated to Los Angeles, where the major film industry was located.
Today African Americans own fifty percent of all minority-owned businesses in Omaha.
Read more about this topic: African Americans In Omaha, Nebraska
Famous quotes containing the word occupations:
“All occupations are lowly; only book-learning is exalted.”
—Chinese proverb.
“Most of our occupations are low comedy.... We must play our part duly, but as the part of a borrowed character. Of the mask and appearance we must not make a real essence, nor of what is foreign what is our very own.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“Whatever events in progress shall disgust men with cities, and infuse into them the passion for country life, and country pleasures, will render a service to the whole face of this continent, and will further the most poetic of all the occupations of real life, the bringing out by art the native but hidden graces of the landscape.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)